Howto: Recover a deleted mailbox in Microsoft Exchange 2000 and 2003 without restoring from backup media

Details:
The procedures described below are an easy way to quickly recover a mailbox that has been deleted by mistake. This should not be seen as a full substitute for performing individual mailbox backups using Backup Exec ™.

Performing a mailbox backup using the Agent for Microsoft Exchange Server on a regular basis provides a history of backed up mailboxes, enabling recovery to any point in time as well as the ability to restore individual mails and folders. 

Using the procedure below only gives the ability to restore mailboxes in full and from the point in time when the mailbox was deleted, therefore not giving any possibility to roll back in time or restoring individual mails or folders.

In Exchange 2000, when deleting a mailbox, it is disconnected for a default period of 30 days (the mailbox retention period), and it can be reconnected at any point during that time. Deleting a mailbox does not mean that it is permanently deleted (or purged) from the information store database right away, only that it is flagged for deletion. At the end of the mailbox retention period, the mailbox is permanently deleted from the database. The mailbox can also be permanently deleted by choosing to purge it at any time.

This also means that if a mail-enabled user account is deleted, it can be recreated and then reconnected to the original mailbox during the mailbox retention period. Configure the deleted mailbox retention period at the mailbox store object level.

I. To reconnect (or recover) a deleted mailbox

1. In Exchange System Manager, locate the mailbox store that contains the disconnected mailbox
2. Click the Mailboxes object under the Mailbox Store
3. If the mailbox is not already marked as disconnected (the mailbox icon appears with a red X), right-click the Mailboxes object, and then click Cleanup Agent
4. Right-click the disconnected mailbox, and then click Reconnect (Figure 1). Pick the appropriate user from the dialog box that appears.

Figure 1

5. Click OK

Note: Only one user may be connected to a mailbox because all globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) are required to be unique across an entire forest.

II. To reconnect a deleted mailbox to a new user object

1. In Active Directory Users and Computers, create a new user object. When you create the new user object, click to clear the Create an Exchange Mailbox check box. This user account will be reconnected to an already existing mailbox.
2. Follow steps 1 through 4 in the preceding “To reconnect (or recover) a deleted mailbox” section
III. To configure the mailbox retention period

1. Right-click the mailbox store, and then click Properties
2. On the Limits tab, change the Keep deleted mailboxes for (days) default setting of 30, to the number of days desired (Figure 2)

Figure 2

Note: Selecting Do not permanently delete mailboxes and items until the store has been backed up ensures that the mailboxes are not permanently deleted from the system until a backup of the mailbox store has been performed.

Related Documents:

241991: Individual mail messages can be retrieved directly from Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 when individual mailbox backups have not been performed.
 http://support.veritas.com/docs/241991

Acknowledgements
Microsoft Article ID: Q274343